1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of and means for folding food articles in sheet form, such as crepes, and also for folding nonedible articles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Manufacturing procedures are constantly being improved to increase product ion yields. Unless subsequent shaping or other processing steps are also improved, it is necessary to provide a temporary storage at the discharge from a production machine. This requires manual recovery and distribution to a shaping apparatus thereby leading to increased costs.
That is the case in the food industry and particularly in the mass production of crepes. Existing devices for high-volume mechanically folding crepes are not satisfactory because folds are formed by "forcing" a crepe through a slot or between two rollers turning in opposite direction from each other, thereby subjecting the crepe to stresses that cause freshly cooked crepes to tear apart. To preclude this, it is necessary to allow the crepes to get somewhat stale after cooking thereby increasing their mechanical resistance. As a result, the crepes must be stored upon discharge from the cooking machine, with subsequent manual recovery and transport to folding apparatus.
The other known devices which are capable of treating crepes just after cooking are complicated and consequently are expensive. They include various electric control elements (microcontacts) and/or electronic control elements (presence detectors), and are not only often unreliable, but are undesirable because they limit the production by reason of the alternating or interrupted movements by which the elements are activated. Crepes can be folded along a line extending in the direction of displacement of the crepes on an evacuation conveyor placed at the discharge of a cooking machine, for example, by depositing the crepes astride a small diameter, rigid rod that is downwardly inclined in order to assure that the crepes will slide forwardly. Alternatively, the crepes can be deposited on an endless annular belt. But the formation of a fold perpendicular to the direction of displacement of the evacuation conveyor, which is very common in crepes, has always required the cooperation of two separate transmission elements, wherein the movement of one of them must be reversed at a precise moment. This reversal, an alternating movement of the corresponding element, considerably slows the flow of material by requiring the crepes to be widely spaced upon discharge from a cooking machine.